Analysis of A Voice On The Wind
Madison Julius Cawein 1865 ( Louisville, Kentucky) – 1914 ( Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky)
She walks with the wind on the windy height
When the rocks are loud and the waves are white,
And all night long she calls through the night,
'O my children, come home!'
Her bleak gown, torn as a tattered cloud,
Tosses around her like a shroud,
While over the deep her voice rings loud,-
'O my children, come home, come home!
O my children, come home!'
Who is she who wanders alone,
When the wind drives sheer and the rain is blown?
Who walks all night and makes her moan,
'O my children, come home!'
Whose face is raised to the blinding gale;
Whose hair blows black and whose eyes are pale,
While over the world goes by her wail,-
'O my children, come home, come home!
O my children, come home!'
She walks with the wind in the windy wood;
The dark rain drips from her hair and hood,
And her cry sobs by, like a ghost pursued,
'O my children, come home!'
Where the trees loom gaunt and the rocks stretch drear,
The owl and the fox crouch back with fear,
As wild through the wood her voice they hear,-
'O my children, come home, come home!
O my children, come home!'
Who is she who shudders by
When the boughs blow bare and the dead leaves fly?
Who walks all night with her wailing cry,
'O my children, come home!'
Who, strange of look, and wild of tongue,
With wan feet wounded and hands wild-wrung,
Sweeps on and on with her cry, far-flung,-
'O my children, come home, come home!
O my children, come home!'
'Tis the Spirit of Autumn, no man sees,
The mother of Death and of Mysteries,
Who cries on the wind all night to these,
'O my children, come home!'
The Spirit of Autumn, pierced with pain,
Calling her children home again,
Death and Dreams, through ruin and rain,-
'O my children, come home, come home!
O my children, come home!'
Scheme | aaaBcccBB dddBeeeBB ffxBgggBB hhgBiiiBB jjjBkxkBB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1110110101 1011100111 011111101 111011 011110101 10010101 110010111 11101111 111011 11111001 1011100111 11110101 111011 111110101 111101111 110011101 11101111 111011 1110100101 011110101 0011110101 111011 1011100111 010011111 111010111 11101111 111011 1111101 1011100111 111110101 111011 11110111 111100111 110110111 11101111 111011 1010110111 0101101100 111011111 111011 010110111 10010101 10111001 11101111 111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,708 |
Words | 351 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 45 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 262 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 66 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 57 Views
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"A Voice On The Wind" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/43245/a-voice-on-the-wind>.
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